Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40113743›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Nonlinear microbial thermal response and its implications for abrupt soil organic carbon responses to warming.

Kailiang Yu, Lei He, Shuli Niu, Jinsong Wang, Pablo Garcia-Palacios, Marina Dacal, Colin Averill, Katerina Georgiou, Jian-Sheng Ye, Fei Mo and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Kailiang YuKey Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. kailiang@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0145-0356
Lei HeState Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arable Land in China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5989-1870
Shuli NiuKey Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2394-2864
Jinsong WangKey Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. wangjinsong@igsnrr.ac.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3425-7387
Pablo Garcia-PalaciosInstituto de Ciencias Agrarias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.
Marina DacalInstituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio 'Ramón Margalef', Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1321-9373
Colin AverillDepartment of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Katerina GeorgiouPhysical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA.
Jian-Sheng YeState Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5335-7896
Fei MoCollege of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7538-0453
Lu YangResearch Center of Forest Management Engineering of State Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
Thomas W CrowtherDepartment of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5674-8913

Funding

National Science Foundation (NSF) 32241035
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a key microbial trait affecting soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics. However, we lack a unified and predictive understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the temperature response of microbial CUE, and, thus, its impacts on SOC storage in a warming world. Here, we leverage three independent soil datasets (n = 618 for microbial CUE; n = 591 and 660 for heterotrophic respiration) at broad spatial scales to investigate the microbial thermal response and its implications for SOC responses to warming. We show a nonlinear increase and decrease of CUE and heterotrophic respiration, respectively, in response to mean annual temperature (MAT), with a thermal threshold at ≈15 °C. These nonlinear relationships are mainly associated with changes in the fungal-to-bacterial biomass ratio. Our microbial-explicit SOC model predicts significant SOC losses at MAT above ≈15 °C due to increased CUE, total microbial biomass, and heterotrophic respiration, implying a potential abrupt transition to more vulnerable SOC under climate warming.

Indexed as

CarbonGlobal WarmingSoilSoil MicrobiologyBacteriaBiomassCarbon CycleFungiHeterotrophic ProcessesTemperatureCarbonSoil

Identifiers

PMID40113743
PMCPMC11926197

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.